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The Yardstick Almanac

Permissions: Reusing Figures and Data

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Most of what The Yardstick Almanac draws itself can be reused, including commercially, as long as it is credited. A few things on the site belong to other people or are not released at all. This page sorts out which is which.

Charts, diagrams and data files drawn by this site

The charts, diagrams, maps and calendar grids that this site draws, and the data tables published with them as CSV or JSON files, are released under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (CC BY 4.0). You may copy, adapt and republish them for any purpose, provided you give credit.

Every such figure has a credit line under it that you can copy. It follows this pattern:

"{Figure title}" by The Yardstick Almanac, {article canonical URL}, licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

To fill it in, use the figure's title as it appears in its credit line and the address of the article the figure comes from. If you change the figure, say so after the credit, for example “Adapted: colors changed.” A link back to the article is welcome and is part of the suggested credit, but it is a request, not a condition of the license.

Each data file comes with a short notes file that names its sources, its date and its license. A data file built from someone else's dataset passes on that dataset's terms, which the notes file states.

A figure may combine this site's drawing with a layer from somewhere else, such as a historical map used as a backdrop. CC BY 4.0 then covers only this site's layer, and the credit line for that figure ends with a separate note naming the outside layer and its license.

Illustrations are not covered

Some pages carry an illustration that sets the scene. These are labeled “Illustration,” and their copyright is reserved; they are not part of the CC BY 4.0 release. Each one carries this credit:

Illustration: The Yardstick Almanac. Generated schematic illustration — not a photograph or historical record. © The Yardstick Almanac, all rights reserved.

Pictures from other sources

Photographs, paintings, prints and scans from elsewhere follow their own licenses, which are given in full in the credit line under each picture. The kinds you will find on this site:

  • Paintings and prints released under CC0 by the museums that hold them, which waives copyright.
  • Prints released under CC BY 4.0, which require the credit given in the credit line.
  • Photographs and images made by employees of the U.S. federal government as part of their work. These are not protected by copyright in the United States (17 U.S.C. §105), though they may be protected in other countries.
  • Photographs released under CC BY 2.0, which require credit.
  • Other public-domain works, with the reason they are in the public domain written into the credit line.

When you reuse one of these, follow the license in its credit line, not this site's license.

Data from other sources

The data behind the figures comes from sources whose terms allow it to be republished. The main ones in use now:

  • Tables from the BIPM's SI Brochure, which is released under CC BY 4.0. Tables taken from it are credited to the BIPM, and any changes are noted.
  • The IANA leap-seconds.list file, dedicated to the public domain.
  • Natural Earth map data, in the public domain.
  • Data from the U.S. Census Bureau, NIST and the National Geodetic Survey, which as federal works are not under copyright in the United States.
  • UK legislation from legislation.gov.uk, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Material taken from it carries the statement: “Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.”

Some sources can be cited but not copied. Where a source's terms do not allow its text or tables to be republished, the site describes what it says in its own words, quotes at most a single value or a short phrase, and links to the original. Its tables are not reproduced, on the page or in the data files.

Fonts

The site uses three typefaces, all released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1: Instrument Serif for headings, Instrument Sans for text and Martian Mono for captions and data.

Citing a page

Near its end, each article carries a Cite this page block giving the site name, the article title, the date it was published, the date of its last substantive revision and its address. Add the date you consulted it. The site does not issue DOIs; cite the page address.

Questions about reuse go to contact@theyardstickalmanac.com.